4/21/24: The Arizona Legislature is currently in session. As the session progresses issues will be raised. Below are issues that concern me and that I am watching since I entered the race in November 2023 for the Arizona State Senate in LD19. Watch for additions to the list running up to the November 2024 general election. The major issue that is currently before the state legislature is the repeal of the 1864 ban on all abortions other than those to save the life of the mother.
Public School Education - ESA Vouchers
The voucher program, shoved through the legislature and signed by Governor Ducey, over the objections of Arizona voters, has created unmanageable costs overruns that will total $900 million by the end of 2024. My preference is to kill the program and start over going back to its original intent. However, that is unlikely given Republican control of the state legislature. I support Governor Hobbs’ plan to reign in the most egregious problems with the current voucher program.
For a more in-depth information on the ESA Vouchers impact on Arizona, read the Arizona Save our Schools report.
Abortion Access & Healthcare Freedom
I enthusiastically support the Arizona Abortion Access Initiative which codifies access to abortion services into the Arizona Constitution. One of our basic freedoms is allowing individuals to make healthcare decisions without government interference. Learn more about the lies being told about the AAA.
However, that is not enough. If Republicans still control the state legislature in 2025 and the AAA initiative passes, they will do everything in their power to undermine its implementation. When elected I will work to codify the rights to unrestricted access to reproductive healthcare in Arizona including abortion services, IVF, and contraception through legislation.
Learn more about the 1864 abortion ban.
Update 4/24/24: Arizona State House voted to repeal the 1864 ban. LD19 Representatives Gail Griffin and Lupe Diaz voted NO.
Protecting voting rights & fair elections
Election integrity is in the news all the time. I am angered that the election-denying Republicans have hijacked the term. Let me be clear, we HAVE fair, accurate and secure elections right now! Over 80% of Arizona voters vote by mail for almost 30 years. Until 2020, there was no real complaints. In fact, voting by mail remains very popular.
I am for election integrity, but not the “make it harder and more inconvenient to register and vote” laws that the Republican legislature managed to get through from 2021 – until Governor Hobbs took office in January 2023.
I want eligible people to vote in federal, state and local elections. We should make the process to get registered as reliable and easy as possible. State and local elections should be on Saturdays and early in person voting should be during days, evenings, and weekends.
The voter suppression “ballot harvesting” Arizona law should be repealed.
Fair Tax Policies
Arizona has a structural revenue and taxation policy issue: the state legislature can pass tax reduction legislation by a simple majority and when signed by the governor, it goes into effect. To raise taxes (most definitions of revenues are considered taxes for the purposes of the law), there must be two thirds yes vote in the legislature and then signed by the governor.
Even with a one vote majority in the state senate and state house, Republicans have been able to jam through special interest tax breaks and reductions in income tax rates that various Republican governors have signed. Each year another tax break for special interests is proposed and passed which reduces revenues for the state budget. Any proposed increase in revenues in usually killed in committees controlled by the Republican majority in the legislature and even if it got to the floor of either house of the legislature would never garner the 66% yes vote.
A small minority (in this case 33%) has more power than a large majority that may want to raise revenues for example, for public schools.
When I ran in 2018 & 2020 I indicated that I would not vote for any tax breaks if I am elected to the legislature. That promise still stands
Learn more about this.
Budget and spending
Budgets are a statement of our values. What we consider to be spending priorities for the good of the people of Arizona.
The budget process in Arizona is broken with little transparency because almost all negotiations are done behind close doors between the state administration and the legislative majority. Remember that majority has been in power for 46 years. (See more about that here) As of April 21, 2024 the state is facing a deficit over the next two fiscal years of about $1.8 billion. Governor Hobbs has ordered state agencies to prepare to cut about $1 billion from their FY2025 & 2026 budgets. Here are some budget facts:
There is a shortfall based on reduced revenues, not increased spending.
Because of a flat tax rate of 2.5% pushed through the Republican legislature in 2022, the budget already had lost $2 billion in tax revenue. However, personal income taxes came in under the estimated amount and corporate & sales taxes have also not been as projected.
Comment: Republican trickle-down-economics that these huge tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations would be offset by increased economic growth are not true as has been shown since the 1980s.
What is the biggest unexpected (projected) cost to the state budget? The expanded ESA Voucher program which now is projected to cost about $1.5 billion for the next two fiscal years.
Comment: So far every estimate has been too low and Republicans don't allow any significant oversight of the program which has run rampant with abuse.
HOW DOES THIS IMPACT RURAL COUNTIES?
Governor Hobbs has ordered state agencies to come up with approximately $1 billion in budget cuts and begin a hiring freeze. What is first on the list for cuts? Roads. So our southeast Arizona rural counties that are counting on funds for road repairs will most likely not be getting their fair share of gas tax revenues in the next two years. Most road improvement projects will be "delayed" even if the federal government has provided some of the funding, because many of these projects require at least 10% matching funds from the state.
Groundwater crisis in Cochise County